Sustainability & Economics eJournal最新文献

{"title":"The Effects of Mutual Fund Decarbonization on Stock Prices and Carbon Emissions","authors":"M. Rohleder, Marco Wilkens, Jonas Zink","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3612630","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3612630","url":null,"abstract":"This study seeks to determine whether mutual fund decarbonization affects the stock prices of divested firms and contributes to the reduction of these firms’ carbon emissions. Using a new methodology to identify equity mutual funds’ decarbonization trades, we calculate a metric of decarbonization selling pressure (DSP) on stocks. Controlling for endogeneity and selection bias, we find that high DSP sustainably pressures stock prices downwards. Furthermore, we find that divested firms experiencing a stock price decline subsequently reduce their carbon emissions compared to non-divested firms. This finding is consistent with theoretical predictions. Various tested alternative explanations, such as shareholder intervention and financial selling pressure, cannot diminish these results. Overall, our findings support the divestment movement’s hope that a critical mass of investors is able to reduce carbon emissions.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"60 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115014616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"ESG and Sovereign Risk: What is Priced in by the Bond Market and Credit Rating Agencies?","authors":"R. Semet, T. Roncalli, Lauren Stagnol","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3940945","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3940945","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we examine the materiality of ESG on country creditworthiness from a credit risk and fundamental analysis viewpoint. To address this, we consider a granular set of 269 indicators within the three ESG pillars to determine what the sovereign bond market is pricing in. From this set of ESG metrics covering the 2015-2020 period and 67 countries, we first determine the ESG indicators that are most relevant when it comes to explaining the sovereign bond yield, after controlling the effects of traditional fundamental variables such as economic strength and credit rating. We also emphasize the major themes that are directly useful for investors when assessing the country risk premium. At the global level, we notice that these themes mainly belong to the E and G pillars. Those results confirm that extra-financial criteria are integrated into bond pricing. However, we also identify a clear difference between high-and middle-income countries. Indeed, whereas the S pillar is lagging for the highest income countries, it is nearly as important as the G pillar for the middle-income ones. Second, we determine which ESG metrics are indirectly valuable for assessing a country's solvency. More precisely, we attempt to infer credit rating solely from extra-financial criteria, that is the ESG indicators that are priced in by credit rating agencies. We find that there is no overlap between the set of indicators that predict credit ratings and those that directly explain sovereign bond yields. The results also highlight the importance of the G and S pillars when predicting credit ratings. The E pillar is lagging, suggesting that credit rating agencies are undermining the impact of climate change and environmental topics on country creditworthiness. This is consistent with the traditional view that social and governance issues are the main drivers of the sovereign risk, because they are more specific and less global than environmental issues. Finally, taking these different results together, this research shows that opposing extra-financial and fundamental analysis does not make a lot of sense. On the contrary, it advocates for greater integration of ESG analysis and credit analysis when assessing sovereign risk.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121173486","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Can green defaults reduce meat consumption?","authors":"Johanna Meier, Mark A. Andor, F. Doebbe, Neal R Haddaway, L. Reisch","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3903160","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3903160","url":null,"abstract":"Meat consumption and production cause a significant share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the food sector. Behavioural food policy suggests the use of defaults – i.e., pre-setting a specific choice option – as an effective demand-side instrument to reduce meat consumption. This preregistered systematic review compiles, critically appraises, and synthesizes existing empirical evidence on such food defaults. Beyond that, potential effect moderators are explored. The systematic search yields twelve individual studies comprising sixteen different default interventions. We find that defaults are generally effective in nudging consumers to eat less meat. The studies’ risk of bias is assessed to be moderate. Yet, the effect size appears to be influenced by a range of moderators. In particular, the invasiveness of the default, the presentation of alternatives to choose from, and consumers’ gender and setting experience appear to moderate the effect. Overall, evidence is still limited, and heterogeneity in the design and implementation of interventions is large. Further research is needed to understand the impact of effect moderators and to assess the long-term and large-scale effectiveness. We conclude that defaults are a promising tool for climate-sensitive food policy, with more knowledge needed to profoundly inform policymakers and implementing actors.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131961670","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Carbon Emissions, Institutional Trading, and the Liquidity of Corporate Bonds","authors":"Jie Cao, Yi Li, Xintong Zhan, Weiming Elaine Zhang, Linyun Zhou","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3881497","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3881497","url":null,"abstract":"This paper provides a detailed investigation on how firms’ carbon emission levels affect institutional investors’ trading behaviors and liquidity conditions of corporate bonds. Our analysis is conducted with a full sample from 2007 to 2019 and causality is further established by exploiting two carbon-related shocks: The Paris Agreement and the election of U.S. President Trump. We find that both mutual funds and insurance companies are more likely to sell corporate bonds in herds if the bonds’ issuing firms have higher carbon emissions. We show that mutual fund flows negatively respond to the fund’s carbon exposures and that mutual funds are more likely to sell high-carbon bonds in the face of investor redemptions. We also find that bonds issued by high-emission firms experience worse liquidity conditions.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"23 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116996732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Facilitating sustainable FDI for sustainable development in a WTO Investment Facilitation Framework: four concrete proposals","authors":"K. Sauvant, Evan Gabor","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3496967","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3496967","url":null,"abstract":"Foreign direct investment (‘FDI’) can be an important vehicle for development. However, in recent years, the focus has not just been on development generally, but sustainable development specifically. Thus, this article focuses on how countries can increase levels of FDI geared toward projects likely to contribute as much as possible to countries’ sustainable development—in other words, how countries can increase flows of sustainable FDI. To that end, and in light of the World Trade Organization’s ongoing Structured Discussions on Investment Facilitation for Development, this article first discusses the notion of ‘sustainable FDI’ and then outlines four issues and related concrete proposals whose implementation through an investment facilitation framework for development would help to ensure that commercially viable FDI makes a besteffort contribution to sustainable development: (1) How can governments encourage sustainable FDI? (2) How can governments promote corporate social responsibility (‘CSR’)? (3) How can one create the special category of ‘Recognized Sustainable Investor’ to incentivize international investors to implement their CSR commitments and engage in sustainable FDI? (4) What role can home countries play in facilitating outward FDI flows, especially the flow of sustainable FDI? Looking at the question of a multilateral framework from the perspective of its objective— namely ‘for development’—is particularly important as this objective should guide the negotiations of such a framework.\u0000sustainable FDI, sustainable development, WTO investment facilitation discussions, corporate social responsibility, home country policies, recognized sustainable investor","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"53 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122126439","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sustainable Development of the Labor Market in the European North of the Russian Federation","authors":"L. Pushkareva, M. Pushkarev","doi":"10.1051/E3SCONF/202124411058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1051/E3SCONF/202124411058","url":null,"abstract":"The economy of the European North of the Russian Federation is predominantly based on the use of natural resources. The mining complex remains the leading one in its structure. Its specialization focused on the production of raw materials and the export of products with low added value increases the dependence of the socio-economic situation on the conditions in world commodity and raw materials markets. The economies of the regions under consideration have some common features: the economies are export-oriented. Consequently, the economy depends on world prices for relevant products, conditions in world markets, and a number of political factors. The work revealed a change in the amount of labor force in recent years, assessed structural changes in the economy that affect the dynamics of employment and the level of qualifications. The quality of life of the population in the regions of the European North of Russia is also assessed in this paper.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"2013 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127435627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"الرأسمالية التاريخ والمستقبل (Capitalism The History and Future)","authors":"Mohammad Abdallah Khamis Alyakhri","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3771804","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3771804","url":null,"abstract":"<b>Arabic abstract:</b> هذه الورقة هي دراسة في تاريخ الرأسمالية وبعض الكتب والأبحاث في النظريات الرأسمالية والإجابة على الأسئلة: ماهي الرأسمالية والنظام الرأسمالي؟ كيف نشأت وتطورت؟ كيف تأسست ومن هم أبرز شخصياتها؟ ماهي اقسامها؟ وما هو مستقبلها؟ <br><br><b>English abstract:</b> This paper is a study in the history of capitalism through some books and research papers in capitalist theories and answers the questions: What is capitalism and the capitalist system? How did it originate and develop? How was it founded and who are its most prominent personalities? What are its departments? What is its future?","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"C-34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126492547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Narratives on COVID-19 and Policy Opinions: A Survey Experiment","authors":"Armenak Antinyan, T. Bassetti, L. Corazzini, Filippo Pavesi","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3764436","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3764436","url":null,"abstract":"Narratives impact people’s opinions on relevant policy issues, and their political context may influence these effects. Indeed, some specific contexts may be more easily swayed by certain stories that provide explanations for current social and economic phenomena. We explore this issue by considering the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as a natural experiment that creates the ideal conditions for existing narratives to gain momentum and spread. In particular, we run a survey experiment in the US by exposing subjects to two media-based popular explanations on the causes of the COVID- 19 pandemic. The Lab narrative attributes the upstart of the pandemic to human error and scientific misconduct in a laboratory in China, while the Nature narrative describes the genetic and biological causes of the virus. We find evidence that subjects’ beliefs on the origins of the disease are influenced by the narrative they are presented with. Moreover, the Lab narrative leads subjects living in Republican leaning states to express less favorable opinions about trade openness and the relevance of climate change relative to those living in Democratic leaning states. Thus, our findings provide support for the idea that recalling stories that are part of larger narratives can lead to divergence of opinions on crucial issues leading to an increase in policy polarization. Finally, we explore the underlying features of social contexts associated with US states’ political orientation, that moderate the impact of narratives on policy opinions.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123526919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Value Relevance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Expenditure: Evidence from Regulatory Decisions","authors":"S. Bose, Amitava Saha, Indra Abeysekera","doi":"10.1111/abac.12207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/abac.12207","url":null,"abstract":"We examine the value relevance of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure of Bangladeshi banks from 2007–2014 in response to a regulatory directive on banking firms’ engagement in CSR activities. We find a positive association between CSR expenditure and a firm’s market value. Evidence of an inverse U-shaped curvilinear association between CSR expenditure and market value suggests that the impact of CSR expenditure on a firm’s market value has a certain limit. We also document that unexpected or abnormal components of CSR expenditure comprise value-relevant information. Our study provides empirical evidence to support the value relevance of CSR expenditure as an explanation for why firms should invest in CSR and why they should inform various stakeholders about their CSR activities.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"482 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133419005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Social and Environmental Reporting, Sustainable Development and Institutional Voids: Evidence from a Developing Country","authors":"I. Alshbili, Ahmed A. Elamer, Ahmed A. Elamer, Maha W. Moustafa, Maha W. Moustafa","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3732179","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3732179","url":null,"abstract":"This study adopts the concept of institutional voids to examine the perceptions of managers and policymakers in developing markets with respect to the actual barriers that hinder social and environmental reporting (SER) towards sustainable development. The study uses in-depth semi-structured interviews with managers and decision-makers and policymakers of the main oil and gas companies in weak institutional settings (Libya). The findings suggest that the absence of environment general authority’s role, the absence of a clear legal requirement that refers to SER, the shortage of knowledge and awareness, the lack of motivation from the government, fear of change, and the absence of civil society organisations are perceived as the major barriers that hinder the development of SER. These findings contribute to the literature on institutional voids and sustainable development by providing evidence on SER barriers in the context of a developing country. Therefore, it could be useful to corporate regulators and policymakers to mitigate institutional voids to develop a more focussed SER agenda, when considering regulations for the disclosure and sustainable development.","PeriodicalId":365767,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability & Economics eJournal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124351296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}